Amy's Meatless Meatballs good for sandwiches, pasta, solo snacks

This box of meatless meatballs from Amy's Kitchen is great for sandwiches and pasta.

Shamontiel L. Vaughn

Amy's Meatless Meatballs

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Sometimes vegetarian alternatives to meat can be a little too close for comfort. For omnivores, this is a major perk. For vegetarians and vegans, it may make them read the box ingredients word for word. Amy's Kitchen meatless meatballs does just that, but they're really made of high-protein grains, lentils and Italian spices.

Legumes are a superb source of dietary fiber. Mayo Clinic recommends a daily intake of 21 to 25 dietary grams of fiber per day for women and 30 to 38 dietary grams of fiber per day for men. A serving of Amy's meatballs (eight) has three grams. Choosing 2 ounces of whole wheat spaghetti noodles has 5 grams of dietary fiber. Put the two together and a third of the dietary fiber goal has been reached.

Besides meeting a goal, the Italian spices and hickory smoke flavor give them a tasty BBQ tang so they're good for both nutrition and yum factor.

Spaghetti may be the most common way to eat meatballs, but Buzzfeed has 29 other ideas, all of which are creative ways to use Amy's frozen vegan meatballs.

Follow Shamontiel on Pinterest for all of her latest Chicago nutrition and fitness entries, or subscribe to her Chicago Diet and Exercise channel at the top of this page. Also, follow her @BlackHealthNews.

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Shamontiel has always been interested in a vegetarian lifestyle since her childhood days of watching a friend eat meatless spaghetti. She slowly started pushing meat to the side in elementary and high school, but it wasn't until college when she bought all of her own groceries that she stopped eating meat altogether. After writing her first novel, "Change for a Twenty" and including a main character who was a vegetarian, a PETA representative contacted her. Teaming up to talk with a PETA rep who focused on hip-hop's influence on vegetarianism made Shamontiel's interest go from not eating meat for taste reasons to not eating meat for moral reasons. She is a 10-year vegetarian and tries her bust to support animal-friendly products. For feedback or press queries, contact her at Shamontiel.com.